DUBLIN BOSS MICK Bohan was left “frustrated” and questioning decisions after overseeing his side’s Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1 success this evening.
The four in-a-row All-Ireland champions won just their second-ever top-flight league crown after a 2-15 to 1-13 win over Cork at Croke Park.
It was an eventful decider; one which saw two disallowed goals and three sin-bins, as Dublin duo Martha Byrne, Lauren Magee and Cork midfielder Máire O’Callaghan all saw yellow.
The latter pair of cards were understood to be for dangerous challenges in the closing stages, and it appeared the former may have been awarded due to persistent fouling.
Several decisions made by referee Seamus Mulvihill throughout the free-kick-laden encounter were questioned afterwards, though.
Once again, a lot of talking points after that league final encounter between @CorkLGFA v @dublinladiesg. Can someone explain some of those decisions please ? Some great football on show . Great to see all the pride laces in show. #Pride2021
— Valerie Mulcahy (@valeriemulcahy) June 26, 2021
Asked for his immediate thoughts, Bohan said:
“It was a strange game. It looked like it was going to turn into a fabulous game and then it got a bit scrappy. We probably lost a bit of control of it. We picked up two yellow cards.
“I’m finding it difficult at the moment. The game has moved on, it has become a more physical contest because the girls are better conditioned and it’s played at a higher intensity.
“I’m probably a bit frustrated because we’re genuinely going after really good work in the tackle and I don’t know… we seem to be getting pulled for it at the minute. We just have to go and look at it all over again.”
On Niamh Hetherton’s disallowed palmed goal towards the end of the first half, Bohan added: “We saw it on the replay, [and thought] it was perfectly legitimate but ultimately, the officials are there to do a job, and if we miss something and they saw it, fair play.
“My own feeling was that he might have pulled it for the hand pass [from Hannah Tyrrell in the build-up] but the umpires told me it was a square ball. I didn’t see it that way but look, you take the punches, that’s the way they roll.”
The Clontarf man, who has orchestrated four All-Ireland championship successes and two Division 1 triumphs since he took the reins in 2017, went on to praise his side’s “workman-like performance,” though didn’t shy away from the fact the game was “very scrappy” at times.
Ultimately, Dublin bagged crucial scores at crucial times, with Carla Rowe’s second-half goal effectively sealing the seven-point win.
“Isn’t it great? She’s worked so hard to get back,” Bohan said of returning Clann Mhuire ace Rowe.
“She picked up a calf injury early in the season and then picked up another calf injury on the other leg. Major setbacks, but the way she’s worked away inside on the bikes, on her own and in the gym, that’s the messaging that the rest of them see – new kids coming into the set-up – it’s just a fabulous appetite amongst the group at the moment, to be there to better themselves. I certainly for one feel very privileged to be part of it.”
He continued: “I’m hugely proud of the older group in our squad. The learnings that they’re passing on to the younger kids is just remarkable. At this stage, the coaching capacity, we’ve handed over a lot of the batons to them and the sharing of knowledge is just fantastic.
“I know some of them are coming to the end, but what a tool kit they’re passing on to the next group. I certainly know, as a parent, if I had young girls at this level listening to the likes of Sinéad Aherne, Siobhán McGrath, Lyndsey Davey or Goldie [Sinéad Goldrick], that’s exactly what I’d want.
Watching them in that capacity, as teachers, they’re coming to the twilight of their careers and look how well they’ve served us. Another [Player of the] Match-winning performance from Siobhan McGrath at whatever stage of her career she is and whatever age she is, the learnings that they pass on — it’s nearly with a little bit of sadness I’m watching them play because I know some of them are suddenly coming to the end.”
From the entire campaign, Bohan takes plenty of positives given they enjoyed a 100% win record and found consistent early season form, while simultaneously blooding younger players and unearthing new talent.
He hailed the “much better preparations for championship than last year” made in their 10 weeks together, given the run of games, but there was one particularly pleasing aspect he hammered home as championship looms.
“The part that I can genuinely tell you I’m enjoying at the moment is watching the learnings taking place,” he concluded. “Obviously the scoreboard dictates whatever else, but that’s not our focus.
We’re looking at trying to play the game at a really high level. That’s all we’re trying to do. I find myself as a coach, that’s the territory I like being in because it’s much better than focusing on a result or a scoreboard.
“There’s parts of the game that are frustrating me because I know they’re capable of doing things so much better, but at the end of day coming away with a National League, it’s not to be snuffed [at].
“We’ve only ever won one, this is our second one. I still remember the celebrations in 2018, kind of mooted tonight but at least we have the knowledge tomorrow morning waking up that they’ve won a National League again.”
